1. Wash inside thoroughly with boiling water and a scouring pad (or sandpaper) and dry over a heat source.

2. Coat the inside with cooking oil and heat until the oil begins to smoke.

3. Using a paper towel, wipe the inside clean. Repeat until the towel wipes clean.

The pot is now ready for use. The more you use it the better it becomes. After each use wash, dry and coat the inside with oil. Store with the lid off in a dry place with absorbent paper crumpled up in a ball inside the pot.

Ingredients
30 ml mutton tail fat or 15 ml butter and 15 ml cooking oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1.5 kg neck of lamb slices
10-15 ml salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
8 medium potatoes, quartered lengthwise
500 g uncooked rice
2.5 litres meat stock

Method
Heat fat or butter and oil in potjie and sauté onion and garlic until transparent.
Remove and set aside.
Slash fat edges of meat to prevent curling while cooking.
Add meat gradually to potjie and fry until golden brown and crisp.
Sprinkle meat with a little salt and pepper.
Arrange potatoes on top of meat and sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper.
Spread onion and garlic mixture over potatoes.
Sprinkle rice over.
Heat stock in a separate potjie and pour carefully over rice.
Season with more salt and pepper.
The liquid should be 25 mm above the rice.
Cover with lid and simmer for 1.5 – 2 hours or until the liquid disappears from the top of the rice.

Ingredients
1 kg mutton shank, sawn into slices
15 ml cooking oil
250 g onions, sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
500 ml meat stock
500 g potatoes, sliced
250 g green beans
250 g baby marrows, whole if small, otherwise sliced
250 g mushrooms, whole if small, sliced if large
4 spring onions
250 g tomatoes, skinned and chopped
5 ml chopped fresh oregano or 2 ml dried
Pinch of ground cloves
1 ml paprika
15 ml fresh rosemary or 5 ml dried

Method
Brown shank in heated oil.
Add onion and sauté until transparent.
Season meat with salt and pepper.
Pour heated stock over.
Arrange vegetables on top of meat in the following order: potatoes, green beans, baby marrows, mushrooms and spring onions.
Spoon tomato on top of vegetables.
Sprinkle with oregano, cloves, paprika and rosemary.
Cover with lid and simmer for 1.5 – 2 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender.
Do not stir during cooking process.
Before serving, stir carefully making sure the meat and vegetables do not break up.

Ingredients
Cooking oil to brown meat
8 neck of lamb slices, 15 mm thick
8 lamb knuckles, 15 mm thick
8 pork knuckles, 15 mm thick
8 small onions
10 ml salt
Meat stock
8 carrots, each cut into 3 pieces
3 large potatoes, cubed
24 young green beans, halved
6 baby marrows, each cut into 3 pieces
250 g button mushrooms
2 large onions, finely chopped
6 large ripe tomatoes, skinned and diced
2 – 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 – 3 drops Tabasco sauce
15 ml soy sauce
15 ml Worcestershire sauce
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 stalk celery, cut into 5 mm pieces
Coarsely chopped fresh parsley

Method
Heat a little oil in the potjie, add neck and brown on all sides.
Remove and arrange in the centre of a flat -bottomed potjie.
Repeat this with the lamb and pork knuckles, placing the lamb in a circle around the neck, then the pork knuckles around the outside edge.
Place whole small onions on top and sprinkle with salt.
Pour in hot meat stock to almost cover meat.
Arrange vegetables on top in layers: carrots, potatoes, then green beans.
Cover with lid and allow to simmer.
As soon as the potato is almost soft, arrange a layer of baby marrow and then a layer of mushrooms on top.
Simmer for about 10 minutes.
Braise onion and tomato in smaller potjie.
Add remaining ingredients, except parsley.
Simmer for 15 minutes.
Spoon over vegetables in flat-bottomed potjie and allow to simmer through.
Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Ingredients
15 ml brown sugar
15 ml sweet soy sauce
30 ml fresh basil, roughly chopped
30 ml fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1 kg fresh white fish, filleted, or frozen hake steaks
500 g fresh or frozen prawns, shelled and cleaned
1 kg frozen marinara mix
2 lemons (juice only)
250 ml thick cream
10 mussels in their shells
20 ml olive oil
30 ml butter
2 large onions
10 ml garlic, crushed
10 ml ginger, freshly, grated
20 ml seafood spices
250 g fresh black mushrooms, sliced
410 g Mexican tomatoes
375 ml fish stock
125 ml sherry

Method
In a large potjie, heat together the oil and butter.
Add the onions, garlic, ginger and seafood spices and fry for 2 minutes.
Add the mushrooms, tomatoes, fish stock, sherry, sugar and soy sauce and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes.
Add the basil and half the parsley, then remove three quarters of this mixture from the pot and layer it, alternating with the seafood.
Start with the white fish, then the prawns, then the marinara mix.
Add the lemon juice, secure the lid and allow to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes without stirring.
Just before serving, add the cream, mussels and the remaining parsley and heat through for about 5 minutes.
Serve with white rice and a green salad.

Ingredients
4 sheep’s tails (optional)
1.5 kg neck of mutton, sawn into slices
1 kg mutton shank, sawn into pieces
1 kg mutton breast, sawn into portions
2 onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 green pepper, seeded and cut into strips
300 g potatoes, peeled and sliced
200 g baby carrots
200 g green beans
100 g baby marrows
100 g button mushrooms
1/2 x 410 g can whole tomatoes, chopped
30 ml chopped fresh parsley
5 ml salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
50 ml dry white wine
150 ml dry red wine

Method
Place sheep’s tails, if using, into potjie, heat slowly and brown.
Add remaining meat a few pieces at a time and brown in tail fat.
Add onion, garlic and green pepper and sauté until onion and garlic are transparent.
Arrange vegetables in layers, in the order listed above, on top of meat.
Add tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper and bay leaf.
Pour heated wine over, cover with lid and simmer for 2 – 3 hours or until meat is tender.

Ingredients
500 g white bread flour
500 g wholewheat flour
12 ml salt
25 ml white sugar
10 g instant yeast
500 ml milk
500 ml water
40 ml butter or margarine

Method
Mix the dry ingredients and yeast in a big mixing bowl.
Heat the milk, water and butter until lukewarm.
Add enough of the lukewarm mixture to the dry ingredients to form a soft dough. Knead until elastic and leave in a warm place to rise.
Knead lightly and shape into a ball.
Preheat the oven to 200 ºC.
Grease a medium-sized, flat-bottomed, cast-iron pot with butter or margarine and place the dough inside.
Also grease the top of the dough and the inside of the lid with butter.
Put the lid on and leave in a warm place until the dough has doubled in volume.
Bake at 200 ºC for 15 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 180 ºC.
Bake for another hour or until cooked and the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Leave in the pot to cool slightly, then remove.
Makes 1 large loaf.

Ingredients
12 neck slices or thick rib lamb chops
15 ml butter
15 ml cooking oil
4 large onions, sliced
2 – 3 cloves garlic, chopped
6 large ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped
10 ml salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
15 ml brown sugar
2 ml ground cinnamon
6 potatoes, peeled and quartered
500 ml meat stock (if necessary)

Method
Cut off excess fat.
Slash fat edges to prevent curling during cooking.
Brown meat in heated butter and oil.
Remove and set aside.
Add onion and garlic and sauté until transparent.
Replace meat on top of onion and garlic and spoon tomato on top.
Season with salt and pepper and add sugar and cinnamon to meat.
Arrange potatoes on top of tomato and add heated meat stock if necessary.
Cover with lid and simmer for 1.5 – 2 hours or until meat and potatoes are tender and tomato has formed a pulp.
Serve with rice.

Ingredients
1 kg boned leg of lamb, cubed
1 kg boned shoulder of lamb, cubed
15 ml cooking oil
2 large onions, chopped
20 ml garlic and ginger paste
15 ml meat masala
15 ml ground cumin
8 curry leaves
30 ml chutney
3 sticks cinnamon
5 ml turmeric
2 large tomatoes, skinned and chopped
75 ml chopped fresh coriander leaves
250 ml meat stock
250 ml sour cream
4 potatoes, halved
2 brinjals with peel, cut into chunks
30 ml garam masala

Method
Brown meat in heated oil.
Add onion and sauté until transparent.
Add remaining ingredients, except potatoes, brinjals and garam masala.
Cover with lid and simmer slowly for 1.5 – 2 hours.
Arrange layers of potato and brinjal on top of meat.
Replace lid and simmer for a further 1 hour.
Stir in garam masala just before serving.

Ingredients
15ml cake flour
5ml mixed herbs
5ml paprika
375ml beer
1kg beef fillet, cubed
250ml beef stock
15ml butter
1 packet of tomato soup powder
15ml oil
1 bay leaf
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
15ml vinegar
15ml white sugar
10ml Maizena
8 green beans, cut up
Salt and pepper to taste
4 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, chopped

Method
Coat the meat with a mixture of the flour and paprika.
Heat the oil and butter in the pot and brown the meat.
Remove the meat and brown the onions and sugar until the onions is nice and soft.
Add the beans, carrots and garlic, cover with the lid and allow the pot to simmer for about 5 minutes.
Replace the meat and stir in the herbs, beer, beef stock, soup powder and bay leaf. Cover with the lid and allow the pot to simmer for a final hour or until the meat is soft (stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon).